MP’s wife given suspended sentence for snatching cat

An MP’s wife has been given a nine-month suspended jail sentence for snatching a kitten from the home of her husband’s mistress.

Christine Hemming, 53, from Moseley, Birmingham, was convicted of burglary by a jury at the city’s Crown Court last month.

She was captured on CCTV stealing a four-month-old tabby from the home of Emily Cox, the long-term lover of Liberal Democrat John Hemming.

Mrs Hemming was told her sentence would be suspended for 12 months.

She was also ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid community work, and pay costs of £1,000. She made no comment as she left the court after the hearing.

Mrs Hemming denied the charge, but was found guilty after jurors watched CCTV footage of her taking the cat from the home of Mr Hemming’s mistress, Emily Cox, last September.

Cameras filmed Mrs Hemming crawling on her hands and knees beneath a window before entering the property and emerging with the cat, named “Beauty”, under her arm.